1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet supplying apparatus having a separating pawl or claw, and more particularly, it relates to a sheet supplying apparatus having a separating claw wherein the separating claw separation and the ramp separation can be switched.
2. Related Background Art
In the past, there have been proposed sheet supplying apparatuses wherein sheets are separated one by one, from a sheet stack, by both the normal sheet separating claw separation, and the ramp separation in which the sheets are separated by an inclined portion or ramp portion for guiding the sheet. In the conventional apparatuses, the claw separation was switched to the ramp separation by greatly retarding the separating claw upwardly and the claw separation was not switched to the ramp separation by keeping the claw at an initial position.
However, with the arrangement as in the above conventional case, since the separating claw had to be retarded greatly, the whole apparatus was large. Further, since an operator had to perform the switching operation directly, the switching operation was troublesome and it was feared that the operator could forget to perform the switching operation.